SWGTailor | A site for the Tailors of Star Wars Galaxies

Who can Reverse Engineer (RE) what?

Any Trader (except Structures) can decompose any statted item to make a power bit. But when a Trader combines a modifier bit and a power bit the resulting SEA or PUP is determined by their trade:

Structures Traders can't do ground RE'ing.

How does the RE system work?

You RE junk and statted items in an RE Tool to make power bits and modifier bits. You then put a power bit and a modifier bit into an RE Tool and choose "Create a Skill Enhancing Attachment" or "Create a Power Up" and out pops an attachment or power up.

It's a simple concept which is easy to master as long as you familiarise yourself with the following information.

Power bits: These determine the value of the final SEA (Skill Enhancing Attachment) or PUP (Power Up). They are produced by dropping a statted item into an RE Tool (craftable by Traders) and selecting the "Reverse Engineer" option from the tool's radial menu. The Power Bit may be the same value as the highest stat on the original item or you might get an RE boost but it also may come out lower.

The RE Boost can be anything from 1 point to 10 points for a looted item but is a maximum of 1 point for a crafted item.

Each looted item produces a single power bit, regardless of the number of mods on the item.

Power Bits come in 3 different forms, 1st Order, 2nd Order or 3rd Order. This determines whether the bit can be used to make a multi-stat SEA. 1st order power bits are used to add the 1st stat to an SEA. 2nd order are used to add a 2nd stat to an SEA and 3rd Order are used to add the final stat to a 3 stat SEA.

The "order" is determined by the number of stats on the RE item and your "RE Chance" attribute. If you RE a 3 or 4 stat item you have a chance of getting a 2nd or 3rd order power bit (you can, if you're very lucky, get a 3rd order power bit from a single stat item, but this is very rare). If you want to guarantee a 3rd order power bit then you should RE the original item with another 3 or 4 stat looted item. It doesn't matter what the figures are on the 2nd item (it can be multistat from a low level mob with stats of +3, +2, +5). The only figure used in calculating the power of the resulting power bit is the highest value stat that goes into the RE tool. The additional stats just help you to get a higher order power bit.

Note: 2nd and 3rd Order power bits can be used as 1st order power bits (ie you can make a 3 stat SEA using 2 x 2nd Order bits and a 3rd order bit. However since Chapter 5.3 3rd order power bits can't be used to replace 2nd Order power bits.

Modifier Bits: These are produced by putting 2 items of junk loot into an RE tool and selecting "Reverse Engineer" from the radial menu. The type of Modifier Bit you get out depends on the combination you put in. These bits have 2 properties, the modifier type (eg Precision, Luck, Light Saber Action Cost, RE Chance) and a Power Ratio.

The Power Ratio is used to calculate the final value of the SEA or PUP. If the Power Ratio is 1 and the Power Bit is +20 then you'll get an SEA with a +20 Modifier. If the Power Ratio is 10 and the Power Bit is +20 then the value of the mod on the SEA will be +2. So the calculation goes:

Power Bit/Power Ratio = Final Value

Modifiers with a Power Ratio of anything other than 1 are considered to be "specials". Specials can only go on Shirts, Breastplates or Weapons. So if you make an SEA with, say, 1-H Light Saber Action Cost it will come out as a shirt or breastplate attachment and not as a clothing or armour attachment.

To find out which combinations result in which Modifier Bits check out one of the following sites:

SWG-inside
or
The Junk Yard

How do I make a 3 stat attachment?

Before you start: You can only make multi-statted SEAs if you take the "Tailor Attachment Upgrade" box from the "Domestic Trader" expertise panel. Without this particular point of expertise you can only make single stat SEAs.

To make a 3 stat attachment you need 3 power bits (1st, 2nd and 3rd order) and 3 different modifier bits (the system won't let you add 2 mods of the same type to an SEA). You then follow this process:

If you want to make an attachment with a "special" mod on it then the special mod must be the first one you put in. This will give you a Shirt Attachment or Breastplate Attachment onto which you can put other mods (either special mods or standard mods - you can mix and match them).

How do I make a Power Up?

PUPs are made in exactly the same way but you can only ever have 1 mod on a power up. To make the PUP add a Modifier Bit and a Power Bit to an RE tool and select "Create Power Up" from the radial menu.

PUPs can only ever be used on shirts, robes, chestplates or weapons.

PUPs are limited use items and the power of the PUP is a multiple of the power of an SEA (anything from around 2.5 to 3.5 of the value you would get with an SEA). S, for example, RE Chance has a Power Ratio of 10. This means that the maximum value you can get on an SEA is +3 (using a +30 power bit). If you make a PUP using the same +30 modifier bit the final value will be anything from +7 to +10 (the maximum ever recorded).

The value of the final PUP is calculated as follows:

[(Power Bit Value x 2)/ (Modifier Bit Ratio)] x (RE chance/100) x (some sort of luck factor) = Power Up Value

It's not clear exactly how the luck factor is calculated.

Note: You can't make an experimentation power up, none of the experimentation mods work as a PUP.

Advanced RE'ing ... or "how to make a +35 power bit"

1st make sure you have a high score for RE Chance (preferably over 140). Then the process is as follows:

1. Take a looted item and RE it, you should get a jump of a few points from this 1st RE step (if you're lucky);
2. Use the power bit to make an SEA using one of the "normal mods" (ie Con, Luck, Stamina, Strength or Precision);
3. Attach the CA to a crafted item of clothing;
4. RE the item made in step 3;
5. Rinse and repeat steps 2 through 4 until you reach +35.

You will get a max of a 1 point increase when you RE a crafted item. However Chapter 6.8 changed the way RE'ing works to make it easier to get a 1 point increase at with lower level power bits. The number of iterations required increases the higher the power value of the bit. So you will get a 1 point increase each iteration up to around the +28/+29 mark. From this point on the number of successful iterations drops. Once you hit +28 you will need on average 3-5 iterations to get a single point increase.

NOTES:

You should only change the "order" of your bit once you get to the final value. So if you need a 3rd order +35 you shouldn't worry about the order until you get to +35 and then, if it isn't a 3rd order, you should repeat steps 2 to 4 - but at step 4 you add a multistat item to the tool along with the item created in step 3.
If your RE Chance is too low you may lose a point instead of gaining a point particularly at the higher levels.
Some people have found that they can conserve their pups by not using them for the lower level grind (ie to get the bits to +28/+29). Instead they work through a batch of bits to get a stack of +29s and then apply their pups for the final stage (to push the bits to +35 ... or whatever value they need).

The average number of items you need to RE to get a single point is around 5 but there's a luck factor and it can take more tries to get a single point. Since Chapter 6.8 went live my average for getting to +35 starting with a +29 power bit is 2.6 iterations per point increase.

You must have a high RE Chance for this to be successful - without modded clothing and weapons and a set of powerups you will not be able to force the bit up to +35, in fact you will see a steady decline in power. There is much debate about whether or not Luck (the attribute) plays a part. The following is a quote from SWG-Tunso (July 10, 2007) when talking about changes to RE'ing " ... Obviously stacking obscene quantities of luck will allow you to push that 100% chance envelope a few points higher...". This would seem to resolve the debate and I've found Luck to be useful so I'd seriously recommend stacking it (but not at the expense of RE Chance).

So basically you need a shed load of junk (to make the modifier bits) and a shed load of crafted items to force your starting bit up to +35.

I'm starting from nothing - how do I make an RE Suit?

Because the biggest contribution to additional RE Chance comes from powerups the trick is in getting the best pups you can. If you have taken all the relevent RE expertise boxes and you are CL 90 then you start with 110 RE Chance. The RE Chance modifier bit has a ratio of 10 so the max you can get from SEAs is +9 (+3 on each of a Shirt Attachment, a Breastplate Attachment and a Weapon Attachment). To get the +9 you would need 3 x RE Chance Modifier Bits and 3 x +30 Power Bits (and a friendly Munitions Trader and Engineer to make the weapon and armour attachments).

This would take your RE Chance to 119. You then need to make the biggest pups you can manage. Once again you're going to need the help of a Munitions Trader and an Engineer. Remembering that the value of the pup is calculated from:

[(Power Bit Value x 2)/ (Modifier Bit Ratio)] x (RE chance/100) x (some sort of luck factor) = Power Up Value

you need the highest value Power Bits you can make. If you consider your starting point of having 119 RE Chance and a power bit of +26 then the clothing power up you make will have a value of:

[(26 x 2)/10] x 119/100 = 3.57 ..... so your pup will have a value of around 2-4

Applying this pup to your shirt you'll now have an RE Chance value of 122 - so if you took a +28 power bit you can now make a more powerful pup:

[(28x2/10] x 122/100 = 6.83 .... so your pup value will be around 5-7 mark.

As you can see boosting your RE Chance value improves the quality of the pup you can make.

But what about Luck?

The maximum amount of luck you can get is around the 1390 mark. This is achieved by a combination of clothing, buffs and your base stats.

90 Base Stats for CL 90

420    From clothing/armour/weapons - this comes from having +35 on each of Hat, Chestplate, Shirt, Pants, Boots, Gloves, Belt, Bandolier, Bracers (x2), Biceps (x2)
125     From looted Jewellery (+25 bracelets/rings/necklace)
35     Weapon Attachment (so the attachment you get from an Engineer should have RE Chance and Luck on it)

Buffs:

150    Entertainer buff
70    Fizz Pudding (food - not sure what the max is for this one)
100    Styptic Powder (created from the Chu Gon Dar Cube)
200    Shard Of Retaliation (Mustafar Quest item - for completing the Trials of Obi Wan series of quests)
50      Spice (there's still some in game although no one can craft it now)
50    Smuggler Buff (Smugglers with the Off the Books expertise can share a Luck buff with their group members. You must be grouped with the Smuggler when he or she calls the Junk Dealer. When the Junk Dealer departs, your buff will begin)
100    GCW Banner - Smuggler (Buff item available at the Rank of Captain or from PvP base rewards. You must be near the banner when it is placed, and of the same faction as the Smuggler)

So that's the maximum you can achieve. But it will take time to put all of this together and most people don't even try to max out luck.

Page last edited December 30, 2007